A weird conversation took place today – a friend of mine told me that his parents, who are in their 70’s, were driving home yesterday when a teenager ran towards their car in a panic, screaming that there were people after him. They slowed down to look around and did indeed see 4 other people who seemed to be lurking around the kid now cautiously approaching him. The kid seemed terrified and kept repeating that they were “going to kill him”. Suspicious, his parents rolled up their windows and started driving away. The kid clung to their car for roughly a mile until he yelled “just let me go” (apparently he was caught to the car when they rolled the windows up). They unrolled the windows slightly and the kid ran away.
What struck me about this was that these are very Catholic people and their actions seemed to be the antithesis of what the church would teach you to do in such a situation (help someone who was in need). When I asked my friend whether his parents considered helping the kid he looked at me like I was crazy and said “you can’t trust anyone” and followed it up later with a comment about how people are crazy & you can’t put yourself in jeopardy.
Where does the line of being cautious and protecting your personal safety meet the fact that you perhaps just allowed another person to be hurt? I am fully aware that there are bad people in the world and perhaps the whole drama was a hoax for the kid to rob them if they did stop. Am I just too trusting and the world really is vicious and requires you to be guarded in every situation? What would you have done?
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7 comments:
Wow, that is tough to answer. Of course being late 20's is much different than being 70, but I would hope to have been the Samaritan and offered some kind of assistance. While I would be leary of letting a stranger in the car, I thnk that we could at least have called for some kind of assistance. Maybe he could have contacted a friend to pick him up while we wait with him?
That is why I have a cell phone. I would have immediately dialed 911, not letting the person in my car, but would have waited. I agree you can't trust anyone anymore, but who changed that? People use to leave their homes to go to work or on vacation and not lock the doors/windows.
I think I would let the kid in the car if he was smaller than Kendall...HA! Just kidding. Honestly, it would depend on my location. Inner city Dayton or Cincy? No way. I would call 911 and stay with the kid. Oakwood, Kettering, Centerville? I'd probably let the kid in the car. How terrible is that? I'm just being honest.
I would have helped, no questions asked.
Two years ago I would've let the kid into my car. After living in Naples I have a different perspective. I agree with Sarah that this is why cell phones are such a good thing. I don't know that I would have driven off - I probably would've called 911 and waited until the cops showed up - but kids are screwed up nowadays, too. 70 year old people aren't as strong, and, let's face it, women are big targets, too. There's nothing to say that the kid wasn't having a mental episode and had a gun himself.
I was going to say pretty much what everyone else just said. If I felt that I was possibly in danger... rolled up my windows, locked my door and immediately called 911 and waited beside him. If the lurking kids tried to cause harm to him, let him in the car in a heartbeat and drive as fast as my little beat up Corolla would go.
I probably would have froze up in that situation. I think Sarah's cell phone idea is probably the way to go. Might be kinda tough for folks in their 70s to offer any other kind of assistance, really.
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